We’re making the turn at old Presidio. Nine holes to go. Pressure building.

Six months ago, you may recall, I played a round at Presidio Hills Golf Course in Old Town.

The occasion was an annual Thanksgiving reunion of junior golfers hosted by my childhood role model, Mike Riley, father of PGA touring pro Chris Riley.

The condition of Presidio, the cradle of golf in San Diego, was, to put it charitably, depressing for any San Diego golfer with a working memory.

After holing out on the 18th, I made a pledge to the gang of weathered guys with wedges and putters in their hands. Somehow, the steep decline of Presidio would be reversed.

In 1932, George Marston donated to the city a 9-acre pitch-and-putt, creating a verdant transition between Old Town and the majestic Presidio fort up the hill. The club’s first pro was Al Abrego, who’d pass his leather-gripped torch to his son Don (I took lessons from Don in the mid-’50s) and ultimately his granddaughter, Donna, who retired in 2003.

Since then, the course, managed by the city’s Real Estate Assets Department, has passed to renters who paid the city roughly $800 a month to maintain and operate the course.

Though recently greened up by a wet winter, Presidio is nowhere near what it was when three generations of Abregos groomed the greens and fairways, taught children the great game, and hosted major junior tournaments where the likes of Tiger and Phil first triumphed.

In November, I confess, I went a little gonzo and asked in this space if anyone was game to save the course from slow death.

For the last six months, the Friends have gone to school, seeking wisdom from anyone holding a stake in San Diego golf or Old Town’s character.

Councilman Chris Ward, whose district includes Old Town, heard the Friends’ pitch in his office. The Old Town Planning Committee listened attentively and offered suggestions. The city’s advisory Municipal Golf Committee expressed support for what chairman Michael Zucchet called “an easy story to tell.” Fred Grand, owner of the Hacienda Hotel, shared his experiences trying to redevelop the course.

The Friends digested ideas from every quarter, contemplated reaching out to the legendary likes of Phil Mickelson, who spent whole days at Presidio as a kid, or a corporate sponsor.

They dreamed that Pro Kids/The First Tee, the admirable Colina Park program in City Heights (and another in Oceanside), might adopt Presidio as a satellite, a safe haven for disadvantaged kids.

They talked to entrepreneurs who have offered ideas about developing the course, both as for-profit and nonprofit ventures.

In the signature phrase of Dynes, former legal counsel at UC San Diego, “We’ve run out all the ground balls.”

But then, amid all this study and speculation, the shot clock started ticking, loudly.

The city announced it was sending out an RFP (request for proposals) before the end of June.

Going into Tuesday’s meeting in a second-floor room at Old Town’s La Piñata restaurant, the assumption was that the Friends’ best play was to send a statement of principles to the Real Estate Asset Department asking that the RFP include certain provisions.

• To encourage investment, allow a long-term lease.

• Clarify any archaeological challenges as they might relate to future construction, including an irrigation system.

• Consider forgiving the rent and water costs to attract an operator who will improve, not simply maintain, the course, someone who will actively nurture golf.

So that’s where the Friends were Tuesday night, finalizing a letter that would urge an RFP that would draw the best proposal possible.

And then a thunderbolt.

Champion-Cain, an unsinkable Mission Hills entrepreneur with a large business footprint in San Diego, stepped up and volunteered to donate the seed money for the Friends to lease and run the course.

It was sort of like Joan of Arc, margarita in hand, calling the troops into battle.

If the city is not going to treat Presidio with the same TLC it does Torrey Pines, Balboa and Mission Bay, if it’s not going to invest what’s necessary to bring Presidio back, the Friends will.

The capital can be raised in a heartbeat, Champion-Cain promised. The Friends can show the city the wherewithal and the will to take dead-aim at success.

Already incorporated, the Friends have applied to the IRS for 501(c)3 non-profit status, which would allow tax-deductible donations.

The Friends can find a charismatic pro to teach kids and care for the course the way the Abregos did for 70 years. (In fact, Champion-Cain has a promising candidate in mind.)

Thanks to the sage counsel of John Bjeldanes, a golf-playing business mentor with SCORE, and John Vallas, the co-founder with Champion-Cain of Beautiful MB, a nonprofit Mission Beach project, the road map came into focus in a room overlooking Presidio’s back nine.

And so it was resolved that the Friends will offer a proposal to the city for the Presidio Hills lease. They don’t want a dime for themselves. But they’re going to ask for yours, you can take that to the bank.

San Diego’s hands will be the hands that rock this golf cradle and, as the old poem goes, rule the world.

Granted, it’s possible the city will choose another proposal. And you know what? If it’s better for the course and the incubation of golf, the Friends will order another round of margaritas and cheer.

What the Friends are offering is a new irrigation system as well as a potential relationship with ProKids to serve disadvantaged kids in the area. They’ll partner with Old Town’s business community. They’ll respect the historical value of adobe Casa de Carrillo, oldest residence in the city, now the pro shop. They’ll promise to restore the course to the point where junior tournaments can be held there once again.

Before the bright-green vision can be realized, however, the difficult back nine, full of hazards, has to be played.